Wales Office

Floods: Wales

lord murphy of torfaen: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any extra funding has been allocated to the Welsh Government to deal with recent flooding in Wales.

the earl of courtown: The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales and others are determined to ensure that all of those affected by flooding are supported in the best way possible. Flood response in Wales is a devolved matter. It was announced in March Budget that the UK Government will fund assistance for flood relief. For 2020-21, the Welsh Government will receive an additional £17m in Barnett consequentials from additional spending on flood prevention in England. If the Welsh Government matches our spending per head on flood prevention then this would see over £300m spent in Wales by 2026-27.

Floods: Wales

lord murphy of torfaen: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for Wales has met the First Minister of Wales to discuss the provision of financial help for flood victims in Wales.

the earl of courtown: Flood response in Wales is a devolved matter. The First Minister and the Secretary of State for Wales met at the start of the flooding, on 24 February, and have been in regular contact since. The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales will work with the Welsh Government to ensure that all of those affected by flooding are supported in the best way possible, including consideration of any request from the Welsh Government for additional support and finances for assistance for flood relief.

Department for Education

Special Educational Needs

lord lingfield: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to address the concerns raised by the report by Special Needs JungleEducation, Health & Care Plan annual review,published 10 December 2019, and in particular the findings relating to the low completion rates of statutory Education Health and Care Plan annual reviews by local authorities.

baroness berridge: The annual review process for Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans, set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 and the special educational needs and disability (SEND) Code of Practice, requires local authorities to ensure reviews are conducted within twelve months from the final EHC plan being in place, or within 12 months of the last review of the plan. The department has sought to strengthen local area’s knowledge and understanding of their duties in relation to the completion of annual reviews. Between January and April this year, a series of regional workshops have been planned. A number of have already been delivered, with good levels of attendance from local authority education and social care teams, health teams from clinical commissioning groups, and parents. Part of the workshops include planning for improvements and this will be followed up through the department’s team of SEND advisers. More broadly, we recognise that there are a range of concerns with the SEND system. We announced the SEND Review in September 2019 to ensure the system is working best for all families, and that support in different areas is consistent, available and joined up across health, care and education services.

Languages: Primary Education

baroness smith of gilmorehill: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many primary schools in England and Wales have modern language assistants teaching (1) French, (2) Spanish, and (3) German.

baroness berridge: The requested information is not held by the department.The School Workforce Census is the department’s main source of information on teacher and support staff numbers and the subjects taught by teachers. However, this census does not collect information on the subjects taught by primary school teaching staff or support staff.The reformed National Curriculum in England makes it compulsory for pupils in maintained schools to be taught a foreign language in Key Stage 2.Education in Wales is a devolved matter for the Welsh Government.

Woodworking: Training

baroness garden of frognal: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the national skills fund is fully accessible to SMEs in the woodworking and joinery sector on a (1) national, (2) regional, and (3) local basis.

baroness garden of frognal: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that resources allocated by the nationalskills fund fully support the provision of (1) trainingfor specialist technical trainers, (2) training for assessors, and (3) machinery and materials, in the woodworking and joinery sector.

baroness berridge: Over the course of this parliament, the government will provide an extra £3 billion for a new National Skills Fund. The Fund is part of a dramatic rebooting of our skills system and will help workers to have the skills they need to flourish and fulfil their potential.To decide how best to develop the National Skills Fund, the government are planning to consult widely on the Fund, to ensure the Fund provides the best return on investment.The insights gained will help to build an understanding how to target the National Skills Fund to ensure it best supports people to learn new skills and prepare for future changes to the economy.

Ministry of Justice

Special Educational Needs: Appeals

lord lingfield: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of cancellations of first hearings in Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunals.

lord keen of elie: The Ministry of Justice recognises that there is a high level of postponements in the Special Educational Needs and Disability jurisdiction of the First-tier Tribunal (“the SEND Tribunal”). Statistics show that 77% of cases listed for hearing in 2018/19 were postponed, compared with 76% in 2017/18. The number of postponements (2,900 in 2018/19) is due to two factors. The first is that there has been a significant increase in the number of appeals received (an increase of more than in the last three years); and the second is related to the listing policy currently in place where cases are listed for hearing upon receipt and hearings have to be postponed if the date is unsuitable to the parties involved. The SEND Tribunal has increased the number of administrative staff, legal advisers, salaried and fee-paid judges in the course of the past year. A campaign to recruit a further 50 fee-paid judges and 100 specialist members is being taken forward by the Judicial Appointments Commission. The posts will be filled in the next financial year. The tribunal will introduce a revised listing process in April 2020 under which parties will be asked to identify, in a two-week window, dates on which they will be able to attend. This will enable a mutually convenient date to be identified in advance of the hearing being fixed. These two measures will reduce the number of cases which are postponed after they have been listed for hearing.

Employment: Offenders

baroness wheatcroft: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage employers to take on ex-offenders.

lord keen of elie: The Ministry of Justice is committed to increasing the number of employers that provide employment for ex-offenders. The New Futures Network (NFN) was established as a specialist part of the prison service that brokers partnerships between prisons and employers. These partnerships help businesses fill skills gaps and prisoners to find employment on release. NFN continues to work across England and Wales to engage employers to employ ex-offenders and support them to do so. We also understand that employers want ex-offenders to leave custody job-ready and so this Government committed in its 2019 Manifesto to deliver a Prison Education Service, with a key priority being to enable more prisoners to find employment on release.

Prisoners: Gender Recognition

lord lucas: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy on housing people with (1) functioningmale sexual organs in the female prison estate, and (2) functioning female sexual organs in the male prison estate.

lord keen of elie: In 2019 the Ministry of Justice conducted a review into the care and management of individuals who are transgender, and this led to the publication of a revised Policy Framework which strengthens the risk and safeguarding process. This was fully implemented on 31st October 2019 across all men’s and women’s prisons. The Policy Framework provides staff with clear direction in the care and management of transgender individuals, including managing potential risks both to and presented by transgender individuals. Part of this process ensures that a complex case board must be held for an individual to transfer between the male and female estates. This decision is made by taking into account a wide range of individual factors such as risk, offending history and an individual’s personal circumstances, medical history and what stage they are at in their transgender status. The Policy Framework also enables risk to be managed when an individual is placed into a prison which is different to that of their legal gender. The policy can be found on the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-care-and-management-of-individuals-who-are-transgender. The safety of all prisoners is of paramount concern and it is our priority and commitment to ensuring that those under our care and management are treated fairly, lawfully and decently, with their rights properly respected.

Sexual Offences: Trials

lord lucas: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether female victims of sexual assault who refuse to use their attacker's preferred pronouns in court are denied compensation.

lord keen of elie: Under the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, courts are required to consider making a compensation order in cases involving personal injury, loss or damage, and to give reasons where no such order is made. Sentencing in individual cases is entirely a matter for the independent courts taking into account the circumstances of the case.

Prisoners: Islam

lord pearson of rannoch: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks byLord Keen of Elie on 3 March (HL Deb, cols 507–9), what estimate they have made of the percentage of Muslim managing chaplains in prisons in England and Wales (1) currently, and (2) 10 years ago;andwhat percentage of current prisoners are Muslim.

lord keen of elie: As of 6 March 2020, 29% of Managing Chaplains in prisons in England and Wales were Muslim. No information is held centrally of the faith adherence ten years ago of managing chaplains (or their then equivalent). As of 31 December 2019, 16% of prisoners in England Wales declared that they were Muslim. Data on prisoner religion up to December 2019 is shown below. These figures are regularly published on gov.uk under table 1.5 of the prison statistics information. Table 1.5: Prison population by religion and sex  31-Dec-1831-Mar-1930-Jun-1930-Sep-1931-Dec-19Percentage change December  2018 to 2019Males and Females82,23682,63482,71083,81082,8681%All Christian39,29339,51539,25739,73139,1760%Anglican13,49613,48013,27313,38913,225-2%Free Church758737739770753-1%Roman Catholic14,09414,16014,19414,35014,1831%Other Christian10,94511,13811,05111,22211,0151%Muslim12,89413,00813,34113,47413,4244%Hindu361343341354342-5%Sikh638611601588571-11%Buddhist1,5751,6191,6031,6271,6615%Jewish4824774945024953%Other religious group1,8381,8761,9101,9551,9657%Non recognised67657**No religion25,05325,03425,02325,45525,0990%Not recorded9614413411912833%Males78,47678,80278,94079,94379,1651%All Christian37,11937,33637,16737,60737,1020%Anglican12,82712,78912,63212,76312,604-2%Free Church7036856937167071%Roman Catholic13,37713,43813,47313,60613,4701%Other Christian10,21210,42410,36910,52210,3211%Muslim12,65912,78213,09813,22213,1834%Hindu350329327337326-7%Sikh618589581571555-10%Buddhist1,5001,5341,5241,5481,5866%Jewish4764694844954872%Other religious group1,7351,7741,8061,8501,8557%Non recognised67656**No religion23,91923,84623,82724,20423,9440%Not recorded9413612010412129%Females3,7603,8323,7703,8673,703-2%All Christian2,1742,1792,0902,1242,074-5%Anglican669691641626621-7%Free Church5552465446**Roman Catholic717722721744713-1%Other Christian733714682700694-5%Muslim2352262432522413%Hindu1114141716**Sikh2022201716**Buddhist75857979750%Jewish681078**Other religious group1031021041051107%Non recognised00001**No religion1,1341,1881,1961,2511,1552%Not recorded2814157** The role of Managing Chaplain is predominantly managerial rather than faith based and posts are filled through fair and open competition in line with Civil Service guidelines.

Magistrates: Retirement

lord burnett: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to raise the compulsory retirement age for magistrates.

lord keen of elie: On 25th February, the Minister for Courts confirmed the government’s intention to consult this spring on a change to the mandatory retirement age for all judicial office holders. Any change to the mandatory retirement age would require primary legislation.

Department of Health and Social Care

Allergies: Medical Equipment

baroness royall of blaisdon: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to add colleges and universities to the list of institutions set out in Regulation 22 of the Human Medicines (No. 2) Regulations 2014 so that those institutions may obtain, without a prescription, adrenaline auto-injector devices for use in emergencies.

lord bethell: We have no current plans to add colleges and universities to the list of institutions set out in Regulation 22 of the Human Medicines (No. 2) Regulations 2014.In the Regulations, ‘Schools’ are defined in accordance with Education Acts. It is the Department’s understanding that educational establishments so defined would not immediately extend to all colleges and universities. However, the provisions within the current legislation may offer scope for some higher education institutions to be included. We will consider if we can provide a more definitive – and easily understood - list of educational establishments that would fall within the scope of the present legislation.

NHS: Amazon

lord hunt of kings heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford on 21 January (HL127), whether the contract signed with Amazon to provide health data from the NHS specifies whether Amazon has liability for (1) the loss, (2) the destruction, (3) the corruption, (4) the desegregation, or (5) the damage, of health data.

lord bethell: No patient data is being shared with Amazon as part of this agreement. The collaboration with Amazon simply connects people to medically verified information on a range of different medical conditions, symptoms and treatments which is already freely available online through the National Health Service website. Use of Amazon Alexa is just an alternative mechanism for accessing that information.The agreement with Amazon clearly stipulates that neither party is liable for any loss of data. The data referred to in this agreement is the medically verified NHS information that is already freely available on the NHS website. It does not concern patient data, as this is not being shared with Amazon. There is no significant risk for the NHS concerning the loss, destruction, corruption, desegregation or damage of this data.This agreement with Amazon will help people manage their own healthcare more effectively, reaching a far greater number of citizens. This will enable people to take better control of their own healthcare needs, thereby potentially helping with prevention and early diagnosis.

Health Services: Artificial Intelligence

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to create a single, online regulatory advice and information platform for the healthcare artificial intelligence sector.

lord bethell: Smarter regulation can help make the United Kingdom the best place in the world to develop artificial intelligence (AI) in health. NHSX convened the Chief Executive Officers and heads of all the health regulators on 28 January 2020, where they committed to a more joined up approach to regulation, in which innovators do not have to navigate between multiple bodies and sets of rules. In particular, there was agreement on the need for a single platform, bringing all the regulatory strands together to create a single point of contact, advice and engagement. NHSX is now working with regulators to simplify access to support within the regulatory environment for anyone wishing to develop the pipeline of potential AI which could be scaled into the National Health Service. This will be an area of continuing focus for the AI Programme being delivered by NHSX.